The World Surfing Champion is a title awarded annually to the best competition surfer for the year, today based on points earned for placings at events on the Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) ASP World Tour. A qualification system decides who can compete on the tour, for a total of 44 men (called the top 44) and 16 women.
The earliest world titles were amateur events decided by a single event, open to all comers, and were held only intermittently. The first was at Manly in Sydney in 1964. The second was held in Lima, Peru in 1965.
From 1973 to 1975, there was no amateur championship held. The International Surfing Federation had been unable to establish a format or sponsorship and concurrent with this the new professional era was dawning.
1968 World Champion Fred Hemmings, retired from competition and began his career as an event promoter and ran the Smirnoff Rip Curl World Pro/Am that became the defacto professional World Championship from 1970 through 1975. The winners were; 1970: Nat Young (Australia), 1971: Gavin Rudolph (South Africa), 1972: Paul Neilsen (Australia), 1973: Ian Cairns (Australia), 1974: Reno Abellira (Hawaii) and 1975: Mark Richards (Australia).
In 1976 the International Professional Surfing (IPS) organisation was formed by the 1968 champion, turned promoter, Fred Hemmings. It put together an annual tour of 12 events around the world with a points system for event placings to decide a ratings winner at the end. This is the format used today by the ASP.
Peter Townend and Ian Cairns devised the points scoring system, shamelessly (as PT put it) appropriating the way Formula One motor racing did it. Townend also ended up the winner that first year (1976) with Cairns finishing in second.
In early years the title brought honour but only modest financial rewards in extra sponsorship etc, and not all professional surfers had it as their goal. In 1979 for instance when Mark Richards won he hadn't even attended all the events, reckoning it better to concentrate on his board shaping business than travel for the South African leg.
In 1982, following a less than positive experience with the IPS at the new Op Pro, Ian Cairns formed the Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) which crowned its first champion, Tom Carroll, in 1983. The ASP continues as the worldwide sanctioning body for professional surfing.
In 1999, Mark Occhilupo's win was a remarkable comeback. He'd been on the tour about 10 years earlier but had abandoned it, then returned stronger than ever.
In 2001 the ASP cut the tour short after the World Trade Center attacks of 9/11, on surfers' fears for their safety at competitions. The ratings leader C. J. Hobgood was declared the championship winner.
As with almost every any sport there's an element of fortune needed in surfing competitions. The competition format, types of waves and human judging all have an effect, which leaves plenty of room for speculation about excellent surfers who never won a title, or could have won more.
Mark Richards' record of 4 titles above and below 1979 to 1983 stood until 1997 when Kelly Slater took his 5th. It was joked that it'd taken so long Richards was scarcely remembered by young fans and was known to them only as "that guy whose record Kelly beat". Slater's 7th win in 2005 made him both the youngest and oldest champion.
Frieda Zamba, Wendy Botha and Lisa Anderson all took 4 women's titles. Layne Beachley has won seven titles in her career, making her the most dominant female professional surfer in the sport's history.
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Event No. 5 of 10 on the 2009 ASP World Tour, the Billabong Pro Jeffreys Bay is coming off an historic day of competition that saw cranking surf, perfect scores and some major upsets. Today’s culmination will crown a champion by day’s end and play an important role in the 2009 ASP World Title race.
“We’ve got good surf coming in again although there is a little more wind on it this morning than I would prefer,” Mike Parsons, Billabong Pro Contest Director, said. “We’ll be getting underway at 7:30am with the first heats of the day and will be running through the Final this afternoon.”
Yesterday saw the elimination of ASP World Title contenders Mick Fanning (AUS), 28, C.J. Hobgood (USA), 30, and Taj Burrow (AUS), 31, with the remaining frontrunners all advancing through to the final day of competition.
Joel Parkinson (AUS), 28, current ASP World No. 1, was in sensational form yesterday, netting a Perfect 10-point ride as well as several high-scoring 9s. The phenomenal natural-footer will take on current ASP World No. 6 Bobby Martinez (USA), 27, in Quarterfinal 2 this morning.
Kelly Slater (USA), 37, reigning nine-time ASP World Champion and current ASP World No. 9, was devastating in yesterday’s Round 2 match, collecting four 9-point-plus rides before he was finished. The four-time past winner of the Billabong Pro Jeffreys Bay will take on compatriot Taylor Knox (USA), 28, in Round 3 this morning.
First up today will be 2009 ASP Dream Tour rookie Michel Bourez (PYF), 23, against free-surfing wunderkind Dane Reynolds (USA), 23, in Heat 5 of Round 3.
The Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) North America has crowned its 2008 regional champions in the men’s and women’s ASP World Qualifying Series (WQS), Longboard Qualifying Series (LQS), and Pro Junior divisions and now that the 2008 season is in the record books and the dust has settled, the nation boasts Patrick Gudauskas (San Clemente, CA), 23, and Courtney Conlogue (Santa Ana, CA), 17, atop the ASP WQS regional ratings, while Cory Arrambide (Ventura, CA), 19, and Christa Alves (Cocoa Beach, FL), 19, claimed this year’s ASP North America Pro Junior Series titles. In the ASP LQS, America saw Taylor Jensen (Oceanside, CA), 24, and Cori Schumacher (Carlsbad, CA), 31, claim this year’s regional longboard championships.
All of North America’s top competitors strive each year to attain a center stage position in their respective divisions. The ASP WQS acts as a gateway for the ASP World Tour and Women’s World Tour, while junior surfers tackle their regional events in an attempt to earn a spot at the Billabong ASP World Junior Championships. The ASP LQS acts similarly, as surfers work to gain a spot on the ASP World Longboard Tour (WLT). Each surfer is fighting to earn the right to advance to the next level of competition, giving them a chance to win an ASP World Championship in each of their respective divisions.
Gudauskas, who put together an amazing season throughout the year, finished 17th overall on the ASP WQS globally and claimed the title of ASP North America regional champion this year. The regional title is a goal that he had originally set out for himself at the beginning of the season.
“Winning the domestic ratings was a huge goal for me this year, along with qualification,” Gudauskas said. “I knew that with the good start in Florida this would be tangible.”
With so many talented surfers hailing from the United States, Gudauskas feels especially proud of his achievement of finishing atop the regional competition.
“To win the North American ratings race is a big deal to me because it asserts you as one of the top prospects coming from the talent rich continent of America,” Gudauskas said. “I think a lot people look to American surfers to see what’s the future of both style of surfing and approach. To be amongst the top of my competitors is an accomplishment in itself, and to win it was icing on the cake. I take a lot of pride in being from America, and to be on top of the American pro ratings, it’s a special thing.”
Arrambide, the America Pro Junior Series Champion, was equally satisfied with the accomplishment earned over the stiff competition throughout the year. The up-and-coming young talent is a part of several successful surfers hailing from the Ventura area and now Arrambide is hoping to claim his first ASP World Junior title in Australia this January.
“I’m stoked to have won the junior’s in 2008,” Arrambide said. “That was the goal that I had set out for myself at the beginning of last year and now I can’t wait to go to Australia. I’ve been training and surfing as much as I can to prepare for the event and am really looking forward to the contest.”
Christa Alves clinched this year’s ASP North America Pro Junior Series Women’s title with a win at the Billabong Sebastian Inlet Pro earlier in the year and will be accompanying fellow top surfers such as Arrambide to Australia to compete for an ASP World Junior Championship title due to her No. 1 finish regionally.
“Finishing first this year means that I finally get to represent our country,” Alves said. “I’ve worked hard, saved my money and am really excited to go.”
Cori Schumacher, a former competitive longboard standout, had taken a sabbatical from competition starting in 2005, but she came back in top shape this year when she claimed the regional ASP LQS title at the Roxy Jam Cardiff, an ASP LQS 6-Star event, over the world’s top female longboarders at her home break. Since Schumacher hadn’t competed in a few years, she had to begin in the opening rounds, but the Carlsbad local ended up winning every heat she entered, eventually taking out the win.
“I had competed in ’05, but 2001 was my last real contest and I felt really good going into the event at home,” Schumacher said. “I felt focused, strong and I was able to pull everything together from the first heat all the way through the Final.”
The 2009 season will play host to several increased ASP WQS events as well as many new ASP LQS contests and the opening event is just around the corner, with the O’Neill Sebastian Inlet Pro, an ASP WQS 4-Star, beginning on January 12, 2008. LIVE action can be found via www.oneillsipro.com
If you’d like to watch America’s top junior competitors in action at the Billabong ASP World Junior Championships, log on to www.billabongpro.com 
Having entered the official waiting period for the Billabong Pipeline Masters, and with the girls hunkered down on Maui awaiting the commencement of the Billabong Pro Maui, it is timely to reflect on a phenomenal Vans Triple Crown of Surfing.
With Stephanie Gilmore wrapping up the ASP Women’s World Title by winning last week’s Roxy Pro Hawaii, and of course Kelly’s 9th crown safely tucked away in the vault, the focus now moves to contending for the coveted ASP World runner-up and winning the Vans Triple Crown of Surfing.
Wow, as though it needs to be re-iterated, but the O’Neill World Cup once again highlighted the fact that Oahu’s North Shore is the world’s premier big wave location. Sunset Beach reminded everyone that it remains peerless as the ultimate proving ground, confronting the World Cup field with challenge after mighty challenge. It was very clear over the first four days of competition that the last man standing in the O’Neill would be undisputed champion for 2008.
Hats off to all four finalists: C.J. Hobgood, Tom Whitaker, Marcus Hickman and Jordy Smith battled through unrelenting power to advance to the championship decider and deserve hearty praise for their collective effort. Individually, they all took different paths to the same meeting point. O’Neill World Cup champion C.J. Hobgood kind of used stealth to reach the Final, surfing intelligently to survive the wild and woolly stuff then stand tall in the Final, his quest for greatness guided masterfully by coach, caddy and handler, former Dream Tour surfer and North Shore resident Chris Gallagher.
On the humongous day, when the Sunset arena was bombarded by set after set of 15’-25’ faces, Jordy Smith and Tom Whitaker took centre stage, Smith coming into his own, he definitely went out there with intentions to surf hard. After carving his way to certain victory Jordy then magnanimously offered former ASP World Champion Sunny Garcia the use of his thicker board. Sunny had impressed early with a 9-point ride but was struggling late under the weight of pounding sets. In the end, the great Hawaiian warrior failed to get the required wave and upon leaving the water, fully aware that his quest for re-qualification to the Dream Tour had fallen painfully short, Garcia lavished praise on the young guns who had risen to the challenge on this heaviest of days, then spoke of getting both knees operated on before committing his soon-to-be 39-year-old body on the ’09 ASP WQS.
That was impressive. So was Tom Whitaker’s tuberiding display on this giant day. At any size, Sunset hurts when the lip slaps you on trying to emerge from the bowels of the barrel. On this day, the place throttled anyone caught in the act of escape, but this did not deter the Bronte basher from committing deep. Sunset Beach’s Marcus Hickman, along with Jordy Smith, looked the man to beat on the epic final day. Caddied by none other then defending O’Neill World Cup champion Makuakai Rothman, who had bowed out of contention, Hickman laid down a command performance.
To reach the Final, Marcus Hickman had to overcome some pretty staunch competition. Amazingly, two of the most outrageous performers along the route were Hawaii’s junior sensations Dusty Payne and Torrey Meister. Wow, do these kids have some game. They both impressed greatly, surfing smart on the huge days, blasting massive snaps on heaving bowls, laying into perfectly executed roundhouse cutties on the more friendly sections, basically surfing well beyond their years. As a reward for his Vans Triple Crown pole position after Haleiwa and Sunset, Dusty Payne now finds himself in the Billabong Pipeline Masters.
Back to Marcus Hickman though, this local kid put in a giant-killing effort, coming up with required scores under immense late heat pressure time and time again. In the Final, he got away to a brilliant start, posting a keeper straight up, and he threatened to blow up at any moment, however events, including epic rides by Hobgood and Whittaker, conspired against Hickman for total victory. Paddling out for the finale, most money would have been on South African wunderkind Jordy Smith.
Smith was in devastating form throughout the event, but he kept his best for the final day, wailing through every round, toying with the west peak, carving huge slabs on the inside bowl, pulling into backdoor sections at will. Then disaster struck, Smith doing the involuntary splits on his opening ride. He spent 10 minutes swimming with a thought to be hip injury, then it was realized that in fact a major knee injury had been incurred. It was such a bummer of a way to conclude an outstanding campaign, but that’s Sunset.
Fantastic victory for C.J., the Floridian surging back into the ASP World Top 5 in the major league rankings, then clinching a major title at the storied Sunset Beach, converting a solid North Shore campaign into Triple Crown calculations. It was total vindication. I recall handing C.J. Hobgood the ASP World Champions trophy at Sunset Beach in 2001. There had been seven contenders going into the final event of a season shortened by the tragedy of 9/11. C.J. was the last man standing and he kind of sheepishly gave a victory speech. The other day at Sunset he was the last man standing after arguably the most challenging, the most magnificient World Cup in history
Now that’s true greatness, an awesome sporting achievement that ranks with the best sports stories of the year.
An exciting format awaits all in the 08 Billabong Pipeline Masters. three seeded rounds of competition pits the best of the best against each other in dual heat format. The opening exchanges see the creme of the local Pipe specialists going head to head with the back-end tour regulars, with a solid smattering of event and Triple Crown wildcards.
Shane Dorian returns to competition on Day 1, taking on South African goofy footer Royden Bryson, former Pipe Master Mark Occhilupo, in his testimonial Triple Crown series, comes up against Rocky point local Daniel Jones, followed by a host of ridiculously well matched clashes. There will be sentimental value in Danny Wills swansong event, the Byron Bay local meets the in-form Kamalei Alexander, while newly qualified Kauai pro Dustin Barca can expect a torrid exchange with Hawaii’s I an walsh in Ht 7.
Teen sensations Torrey meister and Dusty Payne meet Jay Thompson and Aritz Aranburu, while the allHawaiian clash between Makuakai Rothman and Ola Eleogram will generate plenty of interest. Another super exciting match-up pits new kid on the Dream Tour Kekoa Bacalso against the new king of Pipe Jamie O’Brien. There are so many great heats, the Billabong Pipeline Masters will be exciting from start to finish, and of course the big guns, Kelly, Andy, Bede, Joel, Taj, Parko and CJ are waiting in Rd 3. Mick Fanning will be contesting his final event before officially handing his crown over to World Champion elect Kelly Slater, and local stars Fred pattachia, Pancho Sullivan, Bruce Irons and Roy Powers are strategically concealed at ambush points within the draw.
SYDNEY, Australia: Seven-time women's world surfing champion Layne Beachley said Friday she will retire at the end of the 2008 season.
The 36-year-old Australian holds the record for most number of women's tour victories with 29.
"This is a bittersweet decision for me as I feel like I feel like I'm surfing the best I have in my whole career," Beachley said. "But the time is right. I'm motivated to find new and challenging ways to achieve different things in my life."
American Kelly Slater, a nine-time world men's champion, praised Beachley.
"Layne is the greatest female surfer of all time," Slater said in a statement. "She has continued to ... shatter records with her surfing style, technical ability and focus. She will be missed in the surfing world."
Beachley made her debut on the world tour at 16 and was ranked No. 6 within four years. She won the first of six consecutive world titles in 1998, and her seventh in 2006.
With 3,036 points, Beachley is third in the 2008 tour standings behind Australia's defending world champion Stephanie Gilmore (3,516) and Peru's Sofia Mulanovich (3,504).
